What a day...

[LizardQueen]

First ride to work, first drop and first dead battery, all in one day!

For background, I passed the MSF last July, bought my 1993 GS500E (red and pink! Ack!) in mid August (pics at below links), then rode it a few times a week until mid October when it got too cold to keep going (I live in Vermont). This year has been kind of crummy weather-wise, so I'd only been out on it a few times so far.

Pics:
http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/234360/
http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/234631/ ( I have terrible helmet hair in this one)

And a little more background: we've got 3 bikes, 2 Hondas and my GS, crammed in an old ox barn shed so hubby has been getting my bike in and out for me. If I drop it in the shed I'll take the other two out with it, and those other two are his :lol: .  

So this AM hubby took my bike off the centerstand as he left for work, and put it on the side stand (last time I tried to get it off the centerstand I almost put it through the back wall of the shed).  I wrestled the GS out of the shed and began to push it across the lawn to the driveway where I can stand it up, warm it up, and put my gear on.  

I got to a low spot in the lawn and the bike got kind of wobbly, then started to go over and I couldn't save it, and it knocked me over with it.

Luckily we both landed in 5 inches of soft grass that badly needs mowing :lol:  so no damage. But I had to pick it up, which I'd never done before.
I was so ticked off at myself I tried just grabbing it and heaving but that didn't do much. I ended up grabbing the handlebars and the handle behind the seat and heaving and walking toward it at the same time and that stood it up.  

I'm 5'10" and never really liked being this tall (it's a pain for girls, as guys would rather dance with shorter women!) but it's really coming in handy with the bike. I stepped in a hole one day at a stop and didn't lose it since my inseam is 34".

Anyway, the ride to work was fine (about 20 miles), beautiful day, lovely scenery, a little traffic that I mostly just pulled over and let by since they wanted to do about 20 mph over the speed limit and I'm just not that fast.  

Everyone at work came out to see it when I got there - I was so excited I had finally made it there. It was about all I could think about all day!

Then I got out of work, suited up, and tried to start it.  Click. Click click click click. Nothing. I knew it was electrical but wasn't sure what was going on - dead battery was the mostly likely culprit but I didn't know what I had done to cause that.  

Luckily a co-worker who once owned a GS (now rides an R1) was still there and came out and bump started it for me. The ride home was fine, but with a lingering worry that I'd stall it out and not get it going again.

It turns out that what I probably did was put the key into a position I hadn't even noticed I had, the "Park" position, which left the taillight on all day and drained the battery. Due to the bright sun no one had noticed it.  

Since Hubby has been butlering the bike in and out of the shed for me all the time I never noticed that there was a key position past "Lock" . This morning I just spun the key to the left as far as it would go and happily went into the office!

So as a noob, my riding is ok so far but my parking needs work :lol: .  I dropped it at one end and drained the battery at the other.

Hubby and I have agreed that from now on I'll do all my own  bike moving, with him just on guard to catch it if mine goes over, so the other two don't also go over like dominos.  

LQ, learning the hard way today!

[Roadstergal]

Screw the dancing!  I want the long inseam so I can ride more bikes!  

Well, those are probably the best conditions you can have for your first drop - soft grass, no traffic.  I find it best to either grab the handlebars and put my shoulder to the bike, or put my back to it with bent knees and push up with my legs - in both cases, lift with the legs to spare your back.

(Ja, I always check before I leave the bike to make sure that I didn't leave the park lights on - it doesn't help that on the beemer, full key turn is parking lights off, while on the 'Zukes, full key turn is parking lights on!)

[weaselnoze]

well speak of the devil.  there is a post (or two) on this page about killing the parking light to avoid this problem.  have a looksee

[LizardQueen]

Roadstergal, the only bikes I've found so far that I can't flatfoot is the VStrom 1000 and the Kawi KLR 650. It's not all good though, sometimes I have the opposite problem where my legs are crunched up like pretzels.  

Shorter people find bikes to tall/big for them, I sometimes find them too short/small.  I sat on an old 250 Interceptor when I was bike shopping and my knees nearly hit the handlebars!

Weaselnoze, I noticed that article, will read it thoroughly. Thanks!

LQ

[Lukewarm Wilson]

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I'm 5'10" and never really liked being this tall (it's a pain for girls, as guys would rather dance with shorter women!)
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Try being a 5'5" guy even the short girls don't want to dance  :lol:

[starwalt]

LQ, that "pink" on your bike is probably "Gobugalida Pink" and a few other trim colors. I am working on a GS color document and would love to have some pics of your bike to add to my doc.

The purpose of the doc is to provide a reference to restoration buffs looking to match the color codes online to the tape sets and part colors referenced in the online fiches.

Thank you for sharing your experience about the Park switch. There have been several posts where this has happend and I suspect far more have done this than reported.  

The GS has an ardent following. Welcome to the cult...I mean club!

BTW, "helmet hair" is a beautiful thing!  

[RVertigo]

red and pink! Ack!

If I drop it in the shed I'll take the other two out with it

I think it looks cool...   I'd never Ack at that bike...

I almost dropped my bike into two other bike this morning.    We have 2 Honda 90s and all three bikes are lined up like dominoes.  I got my foot-peg hung up on one of the 90s and lost my balance.  I guess all that working out has paid off.  YAY for upper-body strength!

[LizardQueen]

Starwalt, I didn't realize the pink had a name - that's interesting!  I'd love to see your color document when you're done with it, if you'd like to share it.  

You can use whatever pics of my bike  you want if you need them for illustrations - I may have a few more kicking around on a CD here that are closer up.
I'm not sure if it's paint or decals-  funny, I never really looked that close!

I'm pretty sure that it's all original, there's very little damage to the bike except for some scratches on the ends of the handlebars and one small  chip in the gas tank.  It was previous owned by another woman who learned to ride on it and then traded it in for a Ducati 620 (I bought it used from the Ducati dealer where she traded it in).

Rvertigo - I need to start lifting weights. I'm tall but a couch potato in the winter and way weaker in the arms than I should be!

Liz

[starwalt]

...I'm not sure if it's paint or decals-  funny, I never really looked that close!...

After more digging into this (time to kill), I may have to recant the original "pink opinion" I gave you.

The base color of your bike - the original base color -  is the color of the front fender. That color is the same as the side panels and the base of the tank. (Except for the 2004 Blue models - they had white side panels - go figure)

On top of the base color are the "tape sets" (decals, stickers) of various pleasing and/or psychedelic color combinations. For the  1993, the base color choices were Black, and Marble Italian Red (your bike).

Tape sets referenced by year on the online fiches are color codes A4K, A4L, and A4M.
Color Code A4K = 21J Sherbet Silver Metallic + 1NH Grand Pink +28V Marble Italian Red
Color Code A4L = 13L Bright Silver Metallic + 1NF INP Purple Metallic + 33J Pearl Novelty Black
Color Code A4M = 21J Sherbet Silver Metallic +1TC Phantom Pink Metallic +1HU Deep Purple Metallic

So from this, my second guess regarding the color of your pink is "Grand Pink" because it would also have the Marble Italian Red in the tape set.

Now you may see why the color document I am working on may be of some value to a restoration nut (emphasis on the last word  :lol: )